Ransome-Kuti family

The first member to bear the name Ransome, the Reverend Josiah Jesse "J.J." Ransome-Kuti, adopted it in honour of the Anglican missionary that had first converted his family to Christianity.[1] He followed his father Likoye Kuti - an Egba griot - into the musical vocation, and wrote a series of popular hymns in the Yoruba language while serving as an Anglican cleric.

The descendants of J.J.'s son, the Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, and Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti include a Health minister (who had also served as a university professor), a political activist (who would himself later be adopted as an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience), and five further musicians (including one that founded and led a political party and two Grammy Award nominees).

The Ransome-Kutis have been known to form marital unions with other families of the Yoruba elite: The branch descended from Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti is a sept of the aristocratic Jibolu-Taiwo family of Egbaland by virtue of its descent from her, while the one descended from the Reverend Samuel Ayodele Soyinka, the husband of Grace Eniola Jenkins-Harrison, is related to the royal family of Isara-Remo through him.

• Olasu (c. 1750-c. 1820)
  • Jamo (c.1785-c.1850) m. Orukoloku (c.1795-c.1870)
    • Likoye Kuti (c.1820–c.1863) m. Anne Ekidan Efupeyin (c. 1830-July 1877)
      • Eruwe Lousia Kuti (c.1857-19??)
      • Josiah Jesse Ransome-Kuti (1855–1930), clergyman and the first person to use the double-barrelled family name, m. Bertha Erinade Anny Olubi (1862–1934)
        • Josiah Oluyinka Ransome Kuti (1883-c.1960)
        • Anne Lape Iyabode Ransome-Kuti (1885-c.1960)
          • Grace Eniola Jenkins-Harrison (1908-1983) (Grace Eniola Soyinka) m. Samuel Ayodele Soyinka
            • Wole Soyinka (1934), writer
        • Olufela Daniel Ransome-Kuti (1887-1887)
        • Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti (1891–1955), clergyman, m. Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas (1900–1978) (Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti), political activist
          • Olikoye Ransome-Kuti (1927–2003), doctor
          • Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti (1938–1997) (Fela Kuti), musician, m. Remilekun Taylor, amongst others
            • Yeni Anikulapo Kuti b. 1961, dancer, m. Femi Segun
              • Rolari Segun b. 1988
            • Olufela Olufemi Anikulapo Kuti, b. 1962 (Femi Kuti), musician, m. Funke Kuti, dancer/music manager (now divorced)
              • Omorinmade Anikulapo Kuti, b. 1995, musician
            • Sola Anikulapo Kuti, (1963–1997), dancer
            • Kunle Anikulapo Kuti, b. circa 1971, folk singer, m . Olufunmilayo Hastrup b. 1964
            • Omosalewa Anikulapo Kuti, lawyer, m. Fehintola (1958–2006)
            • Oluseun Anikulapo Kuti, b. 1982 (Seun Kuti), musician
            • Motunrayo Anikulapo Kuti, b. 1980, dancer
          • Bekolari Ransome-Kuti (1940–2006), doctor/political activist
            • Enitan Ransome-Kuti, Nigerian Army officer
          • Dolupo Ransome-Kuti (1922-2010)
            • Frances Kuboye (d. 1997), dentist/jazz singer
        • Joshua Oluremi Ransome-Kuti (1894-c. 1970)
        • Susannah Olubade (1898-1898)
        • Victoria Susannah Tinuade Ransome-Kuti (1899-1980)
        • Azariah Olusegun Orisale Ransome-Kuti (1902–1979)
          • Yemisi Ransome-Kuti (1947), current chief of the family
            • Olusegun Bucknor
            • Bola Soyemi
            • Oluwaseun Olasupo Soyemi
            • Eniola Anuoluwapo Mofoluwaso Soyemi

[2]

• Gibbs, James (1988). "Biography into Autobiography: Wole Soyinka and the Relatives Who Inhabit 'Ake'". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 26 (3): 517–548. doi:10.1017/S0022278X00011757. JSTOR 160896.
• Fargion, Janet Topp (12 January 2016). "The Ransome-Kuti Dynasty". The British Library. Retrieved 2018-10-18.

• The Shrine The unofficial website for Fela Kuti and Afrobeat Music, with biographies of Fela, Femi and Seun Kuti.